Best Moderately Priced Kitchen Knives?

U

UW Mitch

Joined
Nov 2, 1999
Messages
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I'm wondering who makes the best moderately priced kitchen knives? Also what kinds of kitchen knives are best suited to what tasks? (I already know I'm not doing to fillet a fish with a paring knife
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I'm looking for one or a couple of knives to do basic kitchen tasks such as chopping veggies, and cutting various meats.

I guess the things I'm looking for in the knife are (in order of importance) ergonomics, being able to bring back an edge quickly, edge retension, a knife that will last me a long time if I take care of it.

Well, lets have it.

Thanks,
Mitch
 
I've only been wandering around here for a month now, but I was wondering when someone would bring up kitchen cutlery.

It is up to you Mitch as far as how many different types you would like to have. Same kind of choices that you have with all of your other knives! There are three styles though that are considered the main ones to own.

Chef's knife: available from 6 to 14 inches long, triangular shape from tip to heel. these also have different amounts of "rock" to them. The French style is straighter at the heel than the German types so when the base of the knife hits the board the knife stops. The German styles will keep moving back until either your knuckles or the end of the handle hit the board.

Most people prefer to use either the 8" or 10" size chef's knives.

Utility Knives: 4 to 8 inches long, same basic shape as a chef's except that they are skinnier (a chef's is about 2" deep at the heel whereas a utility is only about an inch to an inch and a half). A 6" with a little bit of flex to the blade is my preference.

Paring knife: 2" to 4" long, same shape as above. I like a shorter paring in the 2 1/2" to 3" range. For regular use I like one without a lot of flex.

You can get by without the utility, but I highly urge you to look at a chef's and a paring.

Price and Brands: There are a lot of cheap kitchen pieces out there, just like all of rest of the junk knives. A good chef's knife can be had for 40.00 up, a paring for about 20.00.

Henkels, Wusthof-Trident, Lampson, Sabatier, Global, etc, ad nauseum, are all good brands. most of the better department stores carry them. You can also check the kitchen stores in the malls or restaurant supply houses.

OR you can look here on the net. I don't know had to add URL links to my documents so you are going to have to check these out manually. www.knifemerchant.com -My personal favorite www.pcd.com -Professional Cutlery Direct www.chefscatalog.com -not the cheapest or best selection of knives but a lot of kitchen ware in general.
I don't know as much about the last two- www.chefswares.com and a company called Kitchen Glamour, I have gotten their catalog in the past but I haven't checked on a website.

I hope some of all this long-windedness helps out. Good Luck.

Andy

Well, what do you know!! I did not realize teh system took care of the links automatically! Learn something new every day.

[This message has been edited by Andy Wilson (edited 05-07-2000).]
 
UW Mitch, I saw your handle some time ago but didn't respond--I guess I could be called UW Alumnus Mitch. Although I haven't lived in Seattle for some time, there used to be a restaurant supply store off the road between downtown and Pier 91 called Dormans (Dorfmans?), I'm not sure of the name, that carried Russell Dexter knives. Most are stainless restaurant quality with white handles but they also carried the carbon steel, rosewood handled kitchen knives. I still have my 10" chef's knife that I got as an undergrad at UW 23 years ago. I also have the same knife that belonged to my dad which is older than me, about 46 years old. They are not expensive, easy to sharpen but keep out of the dishwasher. If you want European knives I concur with the recommendation of PCD--particularly the F. Dick knives, the 8" Chef.
 
I'd opt for either the Spyderco's or Forschner's. I have both and they are actually nicer kitchen knives than any of the very expensive sets that I've tried (Henckel's, Wustoff, etc.). Both of them stay sharp longer, and they resharpen very nicely. Very nice handles, too. You can't go wrong with either one.

AJ
 
Mitch - If you want a good kitchen knife - go to a restrant, hotel,and Bar supply house in your area or check wth the meat cutter at a local butcher shop - these people use their knives much harder than you will - Having done that - I have Dexter-Russell's with dishwasher safe handles.. not glamourous but the work and price won't kill you either. Victorinox also makes a great parer and some other models that should work.

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Don't wrestle with the hogs - they enjoy it and you get dirty !
Jonesy
 
my wife is a certified executive chef who uses her knives a lot. this past year i bought her some Gerber Balance Plus knives from the Cutlery Shoppe- www.cutleryshoppe.com. She likes them better than her German-made knives that cost twice as much. CS sells a 3pc. cook's set that would be a good place to start.
 
I have been pretty impressed with the Camillus line. Keep in mind that many of those "other" brands are actually made by Camillus.

They are priced right and have one helluva warranty. I put serrations on a Chef's knife and man does it slice like crazy. I also have a few knives from Spyderco and Cold Steel. Not bad but if you need a complete set at a great price don't over look Camillus.
<a href="http://onestopknifeshop.com/store/camillus-kitchen-cutlery.html">Click here for pics and info.</a>

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Mike Turber
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Don't forget to look at Chef's Choice knives. Not very cheap but the quality is at least as good as Henckels (yes, it is--with even better steel). The bolster on Chef models goes about 3/4 of the way down so you can sharpen the entire length of the blade--very important. And they're made in America.
 
We have used a set of 4 star Henckels for 13 ? or so years now and they seem to work ok. They're too expensive at full retail but they're often offered on sale somewhere. We got ours on a 1/2 price sale. We also like the $4 or so Victorinox 3in paring knives, as they slice and touch up well due to the thin, about 0.05in, blade thickness. If you don't mind taking care of carbon steel the discontinued Cold Steel Red River/Hudson Bay knives are superb for the typical $10 asking price, if you don't mind reshaping the handles and putting a finer edge on. The Carbon V sharpens up very nicely and has decent edge retention.
 
The Spydercos are awesome for the price...the small utility or large utility are the best kitchen knives I have ever used. Made me rethink serrations on a knife.
 
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